Mike and I got talking about those little phrases that are caught in the vernacular, things we hear every day that make us wince or stick in our craw, things that people believe are true yet are holding us back. Business as usual. There is something wrong with the culture. We added a new one. … Continue reading Caught in the vernacular
Flying saucers
Sometimes you mean to do something yet your actions give you away. Your thoughts and words say one think but you inadvertently give a different message with the things you do. The expression 'do as I say and not what I do' was created for such occasions. If they didn't happen then it wouldn't be … Continue reading Flying saucers
My first Local Chief Information Officer Council
Well, to be honest, I quite enjoyed my first Local Chief Information Officer Council meeting. Let’s call it LCIOC for short. Part of me was determined not to while another pat was secretly looking forward to it. As I have ended up chairing the local branch of Socitm (nee Society of ICT Managers) I … Continue reading My first Local Chief Information Officer Council
Too many to shake a stick at.
I’ve ended up with a new team. I think I’ve already told you that. It covers a lot of transactional stuff around payments, collections and human resources and so there are a lot of people involved. Too many to shake a stick at. I held my first one to one with Michelle. Those with the … Continue reading Too many to shake a stick at.
Self-organising work environment
Bob and I have been thinking about self-organising work environments again. Let’s face it, who hasn’t? Ever since I saw Sugata Mitra’s work at the first Dynamo conference I’ve been wondering how to get individuals and teams to come together and deliver what is required with the minimal amount of management intervention. Sugata is interested … Continue reading Self-organising work environment
Art versus Science
Did I say how good the FutureGov event was in York last week? I think I did but just in case, it was very good. So good we want to run one closer to home. The speakers were good, the venue was good (anything to do with railways is fine by me), the topics were … Continue reading Art versus Science
How do we buy things that haven’t been invented?
Procurement is one of those things I struggle with. It puts me in a dilemma. I understand the need to be fair to the market and be transparent with your process, especially when you are spending public money. What I don’t get is that I have the suspicion that it doesn’t work. My feeling is, … Continue reading How do we buy things that haven’t been invented?
A beautiful train journey
It was a beautiful day for a train journey. I was off to London for my very first Local CIO Council meeting with Socitm. Despite the length of the journey and the lack of sleep (I can never sleep if I need to get up early) I was looking forward to my trip. There is … Continue reading A beautiful train journey
Get out of the way
There was a bit of the wisdom of Solomon about the conversation I had with Lee. I’m trying to let go. I’m trying to get operational decisions made as close to their point of impact as possible and this means that I don’t want to make operational decisions. I don’t want the Leadership Team too … Continue reading Get out of the way
A meeting culture
The other question that I got to ask at the extended management team meeting was ‘how much of a meetings culture do you think we have?’ There must be some irony there. The point was to see how people felt about meetings, were there too many, were they any good and that this would naturally … Continue reading A meeting culture
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 